Even in the car, they held hands quietly, soaking in the closeness and happiness. Once they got to Dev’s house, Dev leaned to kiss Leaf quickly.
“This was so much fun,” he said, smiling shyly.
“So, Seth having a partner already wasn’t a bad thing after all?” Leaf teased, making Dev roll his eyes.
“Jerk.” Dev got out of the car and collected his things, giving the dogs scratches through the crate. Once he closed the back door, he peered at Leaf again. “Still like you a whole lot, though.”
With that, he closed the door, waved his hand, and turned to go into the house.
Leaf couldn’t stop smiling all the way home. Yeah, he liked Dev right back. More than a bit, for sure.
Chapter Seven
DEV SATat his computer in his room, trying to get some work done. Every time he got into a good flow, his brain reminded him of this or that detail of his date with Leaf, and his concentration was shot again.
Sighing, he got up, stretched his back until it popped, and went downstairs. It was Monday afternoon, and Angel would be home soon. He might as well start dinner since he couldn’t work efficiently enough anyway.
Dev smiled as he chopped up veggies and mushrooms for a stir-fry. He was just so fucking happy. Every time he thought of Seth or Leaf, butterflies swirled in the pit of his stomach and his chest squeezed.
He’d texted some with both men on Saturday evening and all of Sunday. Each time his phone pinged, excitement jolted through him. He was so fucking ridiculous and totally loved it.
His phone made a sound, causing him to grin. This time it wasn’t either of his guys, though. Instead, his dad wanted to know if he had time for a chat. Dev looked at the meal prep and deemed it being in a spot he could easily pick back up, and facetimed his dad.
As the video call connected, his dad fumbled with his phone, and for a moment, Dev could only hear some muffled cursing and see the ceiling of the office. Yeah, he knew it was the office because this had happened before a few times….
“Hi, son,” his dad finally said, smiling at Dev through the screen.
“Hey, Dad, what’s up?” Dev couldn’t help but smile back at him. He walked to sit on the couch for the call and felt the familiar squeeze of missing his parents when his dad pushed his glasses higher on his nose.
“Nothing much. Mom’s happier now that she got to mom your brother a bit. She misses you a lot. I do too, of course, but at least we talk through work a lot.”
“Yeah, I get that. I’ll make sure Angel calls you, and I’ll call Mom when I have time and something to talk about. Otherwise she’ll steamroll me with some book club stuff or something like that.”
“There’s a new tennis coach at the club,” his dad said knowingly, making Dev groan.
“Oh hell no. I still remember her crush on that dude when Angel and I were sixteen. I can’t go through that again!”
“Oh, but see, this is more interesting.” Dad smirked with enough humor to perk Dev’s interest. “It’s a female coach who has an obvious crush on your mom instead.”
Dev blinked at the words, then laughed. “Oh man. Karma, I tell you.”
“Yeah, but don’t tell her I told you in case she wants to talk about it with you,” Dad reminded.
“No, of course not. So, what’s the actual reason for this call, then?” Dev asked, making himself more comfortable on the couch.
“Well, I know you’re already working on the Supersecret Project, but I have a bit of a problem that needs solving….” Dad frowned, obviously troubled.
“Oh, what is it?”
“There’s something wrong with the new area in Crawlers. People are having connectivity issues, and two of the members of the Crawlers team are off sick. It all started after yesterday’s patch, and I’ve looked at it, but I can’t figure it out….” Dad seemed frustrated and tired as hell.
“Say no more. I know how this stuff goes. I’ll take a peek as soon as I can. Have Rick call me at… sevenish? Email me details, and I’ll comb through the data and see what it could be.”
“I know you’re busy with SSP, son. I don’t want this to—”
“No, see, remember that talk we had when I started to work on SSP? About how I’d still help in emergencies like always? This is an emergency. You can’t have a new part of the map kicking people out the day after it opens. I’ll figure it out or at least try to.”
“Okay. Thank you, Dev.” Dad visibly deflated with relief, and Dev could now see how tired he really was. “So, how’re you, son?”
